Chapter 5 A Stick Will Do
――Seven years have passed since I left the ≪Sword of Glory≫.
I've been diving into the floors beyond the 11th solo and fighting there ever since.
Honestly, I've come to earn a lot more money than most explorers.
After all, I don't have to split the profits with a party.
All the spoils of the dungeon are mine――and even more so, because the price of the magic stones and materials I get has gone up.
I don't have to worry about money anymore just to live normally, and in fact, even just diving into the dungeon for 2 days a week is enough to earn enough money to live on.
But I kept diving into the dungeon to the same extent as a normal explorer.
I love money. Money is important. It's no exaggeration to say that I became an explorer for money.
But that wasn't the whole reason.
For the other half of the reason, I keep diving into the dungeon.
And as I kept fighting, my [Slash] underwent further changes.
[Slash] is basically a skill that covers a sword with magical energy that has been transformed into an aura, and cuts the target with that aura. At this time, if the magical energy in the aura is sufficient, or if the aura is well-refined, there is no need to use a sword.
The reason a sword is needed for [Slash] is because the aura composition is weak and the aura blade alone is not enough to cut through the target.
I can cut enemies with [Slash] alone in the true sense.
I had already set foot in that realm.
I gather aura in my hands and feet, refine it into the shape of a blade, estimate the amount of aura that will be consumed when it comes into contact with the target, and inject the necessary magical energy.
It's an imitation of the skills called [Hand Sword] and [Foot Sword] that can be learned with some special Jobs.
But once you can do this much, the whole point of having a sword starts to become less clear.
Of course, it's obvious that swinging your limbs as weapons is weaker than wielding a long-range weapon. With a longer reach, you have an advantage just by that alone, and the attack speed of the tip of a longer weapon increases exponentially. This also means that the destructive power is simply higher.
But if you can truly slash and cut down enemies with just [Slash], then there's no point in having an expensive metal sword. To put it bluntly, even swinging a stick can do the same job as a sword.
After becoming an explorer, I sold my third beloved sword (the first and second generations broke) to a weapon shop and bought a wooden sword that is sold for training.
I tried cutting down monsters on the lower floors, and there was still no problem. If I can train my aura blade properly, I can cut down monsters just as well as a metal sword.
So I continued to fight with my wooden sword.
Perhaps other explorers had witnessed my appearance. Before I knew it, I had 2 nicknames other than "talentless".
――"Idiot"
Hey, wait a minute!
I don't know if this can be called a nickname. Or rather, it's not even a nickname or anything. It's just a plain insult.
To be honest, I was pretty pissed off, but it would be pointless to pick fights with everyone who called me an idiot.
I guess I should just be an adult and take it.
I'm an adult. I'm going to be an adult, Aaron Gale. They're just people who can't see my true strength. At this rate, they're going to die in the dungeon anyway. There's no point getting mad at them.
I was trying to convince myself of this as I sipped cheap liquor at the tavern.
"Hey, look at that. The talentless idiot bastard is drinking."
"You bastardddd! That's enough! Come out and I'll kill youuuu!"
――Well, there were times when things got out of hand and we ended up in a brawl and got banned from the tavern, but I guess those were good memories.
Anyway.
I continued to fight, despite being ridiculed, mocked, and sometimes given strange looks by those around me.
And so, in the 8th year, I challenged the guardian of the 15th floor.
The location was the same as always, a grassland. The scenery was pastoral, evoking a sense of nostalgia.
But the guardian standing before me was a monster that didn't fit in with the peaceful scenery. At least, its power did.
――Elder Treant.
A monster that was like a giant tree, with a lifespan of over a hundred years.
It stood proudly in the middle of the grassland.
Its height was over 20 meters (65ft), and the thickness of its trunk was so massive that even an experienced logger couldn't swing an axe at it. At first glance, it looked like just a giant tree, but if you got too close, you'd realize that it was bound by countless roots that sprouted from the ground, and was being nourished by the soil. Moreover, it could use magic.
Normally, the correct way to defeat it would be to use fire magic to burn it to death.
But it's not like you could just use any old fire magic to burn it down. You'd need a powerful fire magic or a large number of magicians.
It's not an enemy that can be defeated by a single close-range combatant alone. There was a method that involved bringing a lot of oil and using it to burn the tree, but it would require a lot of money and effort. This was one of the actual methods used to defeat it, but it was unrealistic for me, a solo adventurer.
But I would defeat it. I would defeat it. Right now, I can.
I walked towards Elder treant, holding my wooden sword in my right hand, with a calm and composed pace. The giant tree didn't seem to react at all, like it was just a normal tree.
――But then.
The ground.
is vibrated.
The countless roots that sprouted from the ground suddenly shot out, with sharp, spear-like tips that were harder than any metal.
If I didn't dodge, I would be pierced through my entire body like an offering. But it was impossible to avoid the range attack from the roots, which shot out from all directions.
So I jumped high, over ten meters above the ground.
――[Instant Speed]
I released a [Slash] from the soles of my feet, which was actually a type of aura that exploded and allowed me to move at high speed.
The ground beneath my feet was torn apart, and I managed to escape from the tip of the roots in an instant.
But Elder treant, of course, chased after me.
It wasn't an attack using roots or branches.
It's a wind magic.
Manipulating the air to become a blade, cutting through enemies with wind magic ―― [Aerial Cutter]
Transparent air blades, countless in number, are closing in from all directions ―― above, below, left, right, and all around.
It's impossible to dodge in the air, right?
No, that's not true.
When I wrap my wooden sword in aura, and then wrap it around my legs, I kick at the empty void.
A loud, resounding explosion was heard.
――[Sky Walk]
By increasing the explosive power of the aura released from the soles of my feet more than [Instant Speed], I can obtain enough reaction force even while in the air.
By doing so, I can change my trajectory as if I were bounced in midair and move.
However, the air blades surrounded me like a spherical cage.
When moving at high speed in a narrow space, I end up charging into an attack with a density like a wall, like hitting a wall.
But, that's fine.
It's somewhat easier to deal with a one-sided attack by charging in myself than to receive all the magic at once.
And, even though they are transparent blades, they are not completely invisible. The compressed air distorts the light, visualizing invisible blades like heat haze. In addition, the vast amount of magical energy stored in the blade tells me where it will attack from, even if I don't see it.
So dealing with it is easy.
Facing the countless blades approaching within my field of vision, I swing the wooden sword covered in aura. The air blades touched by the aura are suddenly altered, like a Sword Technique [Parry] that has been further improved.
Self-taught sword technique [Change Blade]
It's enough to deflect the blades to a minimum.
The deflected blades collide with other blades, releasing the destructive power hidden within. They explosively detonate the surrounding blades one after another, instantly turning into a useless blast.
A hole was pierced in the wall of air blades.
I activate [Sky Walk] once again and escape from that hole to the outside of the cage.
"It's my turn this time...!!"
I grin fiercely, baring my teeth.
Already, my fear has been overwritten by a belligerent mood. I'm so delighted about the conviction that I surpass the enemy.
I store magical energy in the wooden sword.
The amount of magical energy stored is enormous.
It consumes more than half of the magical energy
Now, I swung my sword in mid-air.
The tip of the swing was in empty space. The distance was far away, and it was impossible for the wooden sword to reach. And I didn't even release a flying blade.
My own sword technique――[Continuous Blade]
From the wooden sword, an aura like mist spread out over a wide range and condensed in mid-air. The condensed aura took the form of a blade. However, the number was numerous, like the magic of Elder Treant.
By changing the released aura into multiple sword forms and making them fly, I could attack a wide range from afar, making it a rare sword technique, known as Aura Sword Rain.
I created this [Continuous Blade] by imitating that technique.
However, the blade was just a blade and didn't take the form of a sword. And it couldn't be used like Aura Sword Rain.
I operated the aura that had taken the form of a blade.
My own sword technique, [Continuous Blade], evolved――[Assembled Continuous Blades].
The thick trunk of Elder Treant, aimed at one point, had all the blades converge at once.
One strike could not cut through the trunk, but I could strike it multiple times.
Each small blade, with little power, continued to pierce the same spot.
Pierce. Pierce. Pierce!
The unbroken sound of destruction continued even after I landed on the ground.
Elder Treant, which hated the rain of blades, slightly twisted its giant body, but it couldn't move from that spot due to its giant size.
Soon, Elder Treant, with over half its trunk cut off, couldn't withstand its own weight and split in 2.
The upper half's massive weight struck the ground, causing the surrounding area to shake like an earthquake.
And so, the remains were returned to magical energy as if they had fulfilled their role.
After Elder Treant disappeared, the ground revealed a hidden staircase leading to the 16th floor, which I had been sitting on top of.
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